DESPITE ILLEGALITY, MEDICAL MARIJUANA A GROWING ISSUE FOR RESERVATIONS

While Montana lawmakers grapple to control a booming medical marijuana
industry, the state's seven Indian reservations are islands where the
drug is still illegal in all circumstances.

However, that doesn't stop the state from handing out medical
marijuana cards to tribal members who get a doctor's approval.

Still, tribal members who use marijuana risk getting arrested, losing
their jobs and being kicked out of their homes, regardless of whether
they have a card.

Wesley Main Sr. is the unlikely leader trying to put legalizing
medical marijuana before voters on the Fort Belknap Indian
Reservation. A former prosecutor and public defender, Main said he
isn't a medical marijuana patient himself and has no intention to
become one if the tribe does legalize it.

"I do know people who are going through cancer treatment and do need
this stuff," he said. "Our people could end up in the penitentiary and
be put away for a long time."

As sovereign nations, each tribal government can pass laws stricter or
more lenient than state or federal laws.

Vice Chairman of the Chippewa Cree Tribe Bruce Sunchild said
sovereignty may exist in theory, but tribes are handcuffed and must
follow federal law because they rely heavily on federal funding.

"As long as we need federal funding, we can't allow medical marijuana
on the reservation," he said.

Chuck Council, spokesman for the Department of Public Health and Human
Services, the state agency tasked with licensing medical marijuana
patients and providers, said the state has no way of knowing how many
tribal members have medical marijuana cards. He said asking potential
patients if they are tribal members or if they live on a reservation
would be discriminatory.

"There's really nothing we can do," Council said.

Nearly two-thirds of Montanans -- including tribal members -- voted in
2004 to legalize medical marijuana.

The change ruffled a few feathers for the first five years, but in the
last two years the number of licensed patients went from approximately
2,000 to about 28,000.

The dramatic increase in the number of licensed patients probably was
fueled by the Obama administration's decision to not prosecute medical
marijuana patients under federal law and by traveling medical
marijuana clinics that give people access to doctors who see marijuana
as a safe alternative to traditional prescription medications.

FBI spokeswoman Debbie Dujanovic said federal agents who respond to
felony crimes on Montana's reservations are following the U.S.
Attorney General's directive to not pursue investigations or criminal
charges against medical marijuana patients.

"We are looking at major grow operations, sale to minors and
transportation of drugs across borders," Dujanovic said. "Those are
the types of things that would draw federal interest. As for medical
marijuana use, the tribal police can respond as they see fit."

The chief tribal prosecutor for the Blackfeet Reservation, Carl
Pepion, said that, as the number of state cardholders exploded, he saw
abuse of the law increase, including people illegally using medical
marijuana and selling it to nonpatients on the reservation.

"You see almost everyday where someone is arrested with large amounts
of marijuana, and they use the excuse that it's medical marijuana,"
Pepion said. "That's true off the reservation, and that's true on the
reservation."

Nontribal members who live on the reservation can use medical
marijuana on the reservation while patients who are tribal members can
use medical marijuana only off the reservation.

Pepion said it doesn't matter if tribal patients follow the law to the
letter. If they drive on the reservation possessing marijuana they can
be arrested.

"The law is not confusing to us, but I think it is confusing for
patients," he said.

Fort Peck Tribal Prosecutor Stacie Crawford said the number of medical
marijuana patients on the reservation exploded after traveling doctor
caravans arrived in Billings. People lined up at the mall there, paid
$250 and were seen by a doctor who could approve them to use medical
marijuana.

She said she has seen three cases in the past two years where
cardholding tribal members tried to use their status as medical
marijuana patients as a defense for drug possession. In none of the
cases was the charge dismissed or the patient acquitted.

Fort Peck tribal officials have written letters and articles in the
tribal newspaper to clarify the issue.

"Because it's legalized in the state, the perception that the drug is
a bad thing has diminished significantly," she said. "It's made it
difficult for us to make the people on the reservation aware that it
is still illegal here."

Taj Riotutar is well aware the medicine he uses to relieve pain for a
torn meniscus in his knee and a torn anterior cruciate ligament is
illegal to use or possess in his Box Elder home.

A construction worker for 15 years, Riotutar beats up his body,
bending, lifting and stooping every day.

The state licensed him as a patient and a provider, but he has to
leave the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation to buy and use his medicine.

Riotutar approached the Chippewa Cree Tribal Council last month,
asking its members to consider legalizing medical marijuana. The
hearing drew crowds of supporters, but the council quickly voted down
the idea out of fear of losing federal funding.

Riotutar said that since he outed himself as a medical marijuana
cardholder, he has been told he can't return to his job with the
Chippewa Cree Tribal Construction Company.

The federal government requires all tribal employees to pass drug
tests when hired and to agree to random drug tests throughout their
employment.

Sunchild said that having a medical marijuana card won't get people
fired, but if tribal employees flunk a drug test, they will
immediately lose their jobs. The tests are important for the
construction company and take place more often than for other tribal
companies because of the liability of having someone high on the job
- -- given the inherent risks of the work.

"I've got to feed my family," Riotutar said. "I'm trained; I'm
qualified to do the job. Because I am a known cardholder, they won't
hire me back."

In addition to the possibility of being arrested, medical marijuana
patients on reservations also risk losing their homes.

Many of the homes built on Montana's reservations rely on grants from
the federal Housing and Urban Development agency.

To rent or buy one of these homes, tribal members sign leases agreeing
that if alcohol or drugs are found inside, they will be kicked out.

Main said that one of the reasons he gathered only 120 signatures to
petition the Fort Belknap Tribe to legalize medical marijuana is
because patients are being threatened and fear being evicted.

Fort Belknap Tribal Council Chairman Tracy "Ching" King said he is not
aware of any patients who have lost their homes, but said the law
would allow it if they were caught using or possessing marijuana.

Chippewa Cree Housing Director Susie Hay said people have very few
options of places to live on the reservation other tribal housing.

She said people who were arrested for selling pot out of their homes
on the reservation have been evicted, but so far no medical marijuana
patients have been kicked out.

Hay said tribal housing relies on police reports and criminal charges
to determine if someone has drugs. The state's list of medical
marijuana patients and providers is kept confidential.

The housing department does inspect the homes on occasion, but it must
give tenants five days notice before doing so.

"The inspectors are looking for deterioration of the house," Hay said.
"We're not looking in drawers or cupboards. Law enforcement has to
have probable cause to go inside someone's home. We're not law
enforcement."

The debate reminds Blackfeet Chief Earl Old Person of a similar
discussion more than 50 years ago.

Decades after prohibition ended, the tribe continued to outlaw the use
and sale of alcohol on the reservation. The council agreed to allow it
on the reservation in 1954.

"The people supporting it said 'if our boys can fight in wars, why
can't they drink liquor?'" Old Person said. "There were bootleggers,
and people went off the reservation to drink and then drove back."

Old Person was elected to the council for the first time just after
that vote. That fall, two elderly ladies who argued most vehemently in
support of legalizing alcohol, demanded that the tribe close the bars.

"We see the effects of it now," he said. "I don't think the tribal
councils will be too quick to legalize something like medical marijuana."

Blackfeet Tribal Attorney Sandra Watts said no one has suggested
legalizing medical marijuana, so at this point there is no debate, and
the tribe has a zero-tolerance policy.

A year ago, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes discussed what
the medical marijuana policy would be on the Flathead Indian
Reservation.

Spokesman Robert McDonald said the tribes consulted cultural
committees, which said marijuana was not part of the tribes' histories.

Though letters to the editor lobbied to legalize medical marijuana on
the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Crawford said no one has brought the
issue to the council, which has been reluctant to debate the issue.

The Fort Belknap Tribal Council isn't eager to debate the issue
either, but because Main has gathered enough signatures, it will
decide Wednesday whether to put legalizing medical marijuana on the
ballot for tribal voters to consider.

"Why would you even consider it?" King asked. "You're going to shoot
yourself in the foot in so many different ways."

Main said it is important for residents to consider the possible
consequences and vote on the issue. He added that whether the
referendum passes or fails, the process will educate tribal members on
the law and the risks of using marijuana even if a patient has a state
license.

"We don't want this swept under the table," Main said. "This problem
is not going to go away."